March. A month filled with events, such as the change from winter to spring or the international Women’s Day (IWD). In both case, this is a cyclic event: a change that occurs repeatedly, around the same period but to only remain temporary. Spring represents the renewal and the coming of nicer weather. The IWD is now the day on which women are celebrated and their position in our society in terms of rights and struggles endured is highlighted. But every year, the story restarts, flowers bud and some of them are offered to women on IWD. Like these natural and calendar cycles, communication strategies and society’s reactions towards “women cause fight” are also being repeated over and over again, even if it is presented as something new. Just on the web, I think there are enough materials to become lost or schizophrenic regarding the consideration of women in our society, and this, beyond the regions. So dear reader, like Morpheus asked Neo, here is my question to you: do you want to face the truth of reality (red pill) or remain in the comfortable illusion (blue pill) of our schizophrenic world? You may ask back: Why not taking both pills and get a purple effect?

This purple effect can be observed where both blue and red pills are available; i.e. in countries having quite developed economy, and not suffering from war or other terrible problems. But what are the characteristics of the purple effects? Well, there are many stages. At first, you may remain in a kind of illusion of a comfortable world, which has made amazing technological progress such as sending a probe (Philae) into space to study comets, to then, make you cry in front of news showing war refugees’ living conditions or some people having no access to potable water, to again, put you back to a state of amazement in front of emerging smart cities, where distribution of electricity is monitored based on needs. Well, the image and the perception of women are also a result of this purple effect.

Dove campaigns / For more than 10 years, Dove aims to encourage people to accept them as they are, reminding that “beauty is a state of mind” and how manipulated we are by following what we think are beauty standards. Over the last years, especially with the spread of selfies, we could observe some emulation among celebrities, showing themselves naturally, just awake or without being retouched. Recently Cindy Crawford and Lara Stone were all praised by women’s magazines for showing themselves as they are. In April 2009, ELLE France magazine had already made a special issue with celebrities photographed without any make-up and retouches.

“Natural is the best”? Really?? Come on! / Praising natural but actually going on with Photoshop, here is the real truth of our society. Why? Simply because it is easier to sell by using what is accepted as perfectly beautiful. Even though canons of beauty are different based on regions and exist for millennials, staying natural and being natural is not part of today’s selling tools. Praising natural photos is only a punctual phenomenon otherwise why praising it?

Everlast versus Catcallers / Being harassed in the street is something unfortunately common for many women in the world. Everlast, the sport brand, wanted to point this out in Peru by disguising mothers, so that they will be catcalled by their own sons. The mothers’ reactions were immediate, they burst out and give their sons a lesson they will remember.

Outfit association / Made-up or not, the trick highlighted the power of objects. Some outfits or accessories like a ring worn on the right finger work like a shield against catcallers. Perception influenced by stereotypes or not, we give objects particular meanings. Even Marshall Eriksen likens Robin Scherbatsky’s engagement ring to Bilbo Baggins’ ring in The Hobbit and the cloak of invisibility in Harry Potter; once worn you disappear.

Never-ending contradiction / The ad world is by definition full of contradictions, since we are making this world exist and be. Besides, with social media, we are giving more and more importance to others’ opinions; at a point that according to the Daily Mail there is more than 17 million selfies uploaded to social media sites every week. But this attention given pushes us to do something and tell the opposite, as a way to be accepted by others? We can read in one magazine, articles promoting bare face women and others promoting all must-have cosmetics to be beautiful. We are shocked when breasts are not properly blurred on a photo, but enjoying very suggestive and racy music videos.

Not just a symptomatic effect, but an ∞ effect
Beyond the purple effect, it seems that there is no learning curve, but an infinite and cyclic curve repeating the same things. Over the past 50 years, when you look at the use of women’s image in communication campaigns, well… there is no real change. In marketing, the objective has remained unchanged: remember and talk about a product/service. Trigger a word-of-mouth – or word-of-Twitter today – works well, when reactions are created, such as surprising or shocking people. So far, what seems to work the best is showing provocative and racy images of women. We all know the ropes and tricks, but we still go on supporting such approach by going on using these same ropes and tricks, and thus, keeping on contributing to a certain perception of women in our society. This is how we create “from-sweetie-to-slutty” phenomena like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and yet to become Martina Stoessel (?) Though, this is a sustainable marketing strategy, no? In parallel, speeches made about women rights and gender inequality, are the same; which means that nothing has changed but everything is repeated… again.

A bitter world rather than a better world…
Last summer, Bülent Arınç, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister, said women should not laugh loudly in public; creating waves of reactions in media all over the world. Shocking? Yes. But what about a non-working woman sipping her coffee in Nişantaşı*, dressed up with luxury brands paid with her husband or her parent’s money, discussing with her entourage about women rights and cause in the world, pretending to know about the subject? Not only men may influence today’s women’s perception, but women do it even better! Women are part of the process of change or maintenance of the stereotypes that exist today. At the 25th Crystal Apple Festival, Mercedes Erra, founder of BETC, said that “If women’s stereotypes remain as they are in women’s mind, so how can our own world change to reach actual gender equality?” Pointing out men as sole and main responsible is the easiest way to discharge our own responsibility as women.

My red pill effect makes me say that cyclically, we aim for a better world, but we are living a bitter one. And my blue pill effect wishes you a happy IWD!

March. A month filled with events, such as the change from winter to spring or the international Women’s Day (IWD). In both case, this is a cyclic event: a change that occurs repeatedly, around the same period but to only remain temporary. Spring represents the renewal and the coming of nicer weather. The IWD is now the day on which women are celebrated and their position in our society in terms of rights and struggles endured is highlighted. But every year, the story restarts, flowers bud and some of them are offered to women on IWD. Like these natural and calendar cycles, communication strategies and society’s reactions towards “women cause fight” are also being repeated over and over again, even if it is presented as something new. Just on the web, I think there are enough materials to become lost or schizophrenic regarding the consideration of women in our society, and this, beyond the regions. So dear reader, like Morpheus asked Neo, here is my question to you: do you want to face the truth of reality (red pill) or remain in the comfortable illusion (blue pill) of our schizophrenic world? You may ask back: Why not taking both pills and get a purple effect?

This purple effect can be observed where both blue and red pills are available; i.e. in countries having quite developed economy, and not suffering from war or other terrible problems. But what are the characteristics of the purple effects? Well, there are many stages. At first, you may remain in a kind of illusion of a comfortable world, which has made amazing technological progress such as sending a probe (Philae) into space to study comets, to then, make you cry in front of news showing war refugees’ living conditions or some people having no access to potable water, to again, put you back to a state of amazement in front of emerging smart cities, where distribution of electricity is monitored based on needs. Well, the image and the perception of women are also a result of this purple effect.

Dove campaigns / For more than 10 years, Dove aims to encourage people to accept them as they are, reminding that “beauty is a state of mind” and how manipulated we are by following what we think are beauty standards. Over the last years, especially with the spread of selfies, we could observe some emulation among celebrities, showing themselves naturally, just awake or without being retouched. Recently Cindy Crawford and Lara Stone were all praised by women’s magazines for showing themselves as they are. In April 2009, ELLE France magazine had already made a special issue with celebrities photographed without any make-up and retouches.

“Natural is the best”? Really?? Come on! / Praising natural but actually going on with Photoshop, here is the real truth of our society. Why? Simply because it is easier to sell by using what is accepted as perfectly beautiful. Even though canons of beauty are different based on regions and exist for millennials, staying natural and being natural is not part of today’s selling tools. Praising natural photos is only a punctual phenomenon otherwise why praising it?

Everlast versus Catcallers / Being harassed in the street is something unfortunately common for many women in the world. Everlast, the sport brand, wanted to point this out in Peru by disguising mothers, so that they will be catcalled by their own sons. The mothers’ reactions were immediate, they burst out and give their sons a lesson they will remember.

Outfit association / Made-up or not, the trick highlighted the power of objects. Some outfits or accessories like a ring worn on the right finger work like a shield against catcallers. Perception influenced by stereotypes or not, we give objects particular meanings. Even Marshall Eriksen likens Robin Scherbatsky’s engagement ring to Bilbo Baggins’ ring in The Hobbit and the cloak of invisibility in Harry Potter; once worn you disappear.

Never-ending contradiction / The ad world is by definition full of contradictions, since we are making this world exist and be. Besides, with social media, we are giving more and more importance to others’ opinions; at a point that according to the Daily Mail there is more than 17 million selfies uploaded to social media sites every week. But this attention given pushes us to do something and tell the opposite, as a way to be accepted by others? We can read in one magazine, articles promoting bare face women and others promoting all must-have cosmetics to be beautiful. We are shocked when breasts are not properly blurred on a photo, but enjoying very suggestive and racy music videos.

Not just a symptomatic effect, but an ∞ effect
Beyond the purple effect, it seems that there is no learning curve, but an infinite and cyclic curve repeating the same things. Over the past 50 years, when you look at the use of women’s image in communication campaigns, well… there is no real change. In marketing, the objective has remained unchanged: remember and talk about a product/service. Trigger a word-of-mouth – or word-of-Twitter today – works well, when reactions are created, such as surprising or shocking people. So far, what seems to work the best is showing provocative and racy images of women. We all know the ropes and tricks, but we still go on supporting such approach by going on using these same ropes and tricks, and thus, keeping on contributing to a certain perception of women in our society. This is how we create “from-sweetie-to-slutty” phenomena like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and yet to become Martina Stoessel (?) Though, this is a sustainable marketing strategy, no? In parallel, speeches made about women rights and gender inequality, are the same; which means that nothing has changed but everything is repeated… again.

A bitter world rather than a better world…
Last summer, Bülent Arınç, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister, said women should not laugh loudly in public; creating waves of reactions in media all over the world. Shocking? Yes. But what about a non-working woman sipping her coffee in Nişantaşı*, dressed up with luxury brands paid with her husband or her parent’s money, discussing with her entourage about women rights and cause in the world, pretending to know about the subject? Not only men may influence today’s women’s perception, but women do it even better! Women are part of the process of change or maintenance of the stereotypes that exist today. At the 25th Crystal Apple Festival, Mercedes Erra, founder of BETC, said that “If women’s stereotypes remain as they are in women’s mind, so how can our own world change to reach actual gender equality?” Pointing out men as sole and main responsible is the easiest way to discharge our own responsibility as women.

My red pill effect makes me say that cyclically, we aim for a better world, but we are living a bitter one. And my blue pill effect wishes you a happy IWD!

This year at Crystal Apple Festival of Creativity, environment has been put forward once again by VW through its category award Environment and Sustainability and its great exhibition area, Think Blue aiming to raise people’s awareness on sustainability. Awareness, that still needs to be raised unfortunately. During my seminar at Future Camp, I asked the audience if someone could define sustainability. No one answered. Timidity or lack of knowledge? I opt and hope it was timidity. However, among the 3 main pillars of sustainability the one I will remember from 2014 Crystal Apple is the Social one; the one related to gender (in)equality.

This year, although only 22% of the speakers at Crystal Apple were women, women were put forward by key speakers. Why such a small number? Simply because there is a lack of women in high positions in Advertising industry. Unfortunately, this is not the only industry and sector; such case is encountered everywhere all around the world. However, Crystal Apple has highlighted this issue by setting up “Women Power in Creative Industries” panel, gathering key powerful Turkish women and put in Future Camp, a session dedicated to #LikeAGirl Campaign presented by Oya Canbaş, Brand Director of P&G Turkey. Keynote speakers like David Shing, Digital Prophet of AOL, or Jacques Séguéla, VP of Havas Worldwide, emphasized the power of women in decision making and in changing the world.

Feminism you think?

Feminism. This word has become a big word, associated with negative ideas. Why negative? Maybe because promotion or actions towards more gender equality were represented and described by the media or our entourage as negatively rebel or even violent.

Or simply a(nother) wake-up call for Men <> Women?

At last year festival, Mercedes Erra, the President Executive of Havas worldwide and BETC founder, pointed out that balance between men and women help organizations to progress. To change the inequality between men and women, people should go beyond the stereotypes; stereotypes that unfortunately everyone’s has. Something also encouraged by the actress Emma Watson in her recent speech at the United Nations for HeForShe campaign launch.

Changing things that are so deeply anchored in the society is the biggest challenge. Actors for such change are everywhere: from your neighbor to leading brands, media or TV series, through celebrities and yourself. Here are some inspiring examples:

Hustle by TV series.

Rare are the TV series putting forward successful professional women, rather than successful mothers. In the 80s the TV series Who’s the boss? was one of them. Angela Bower, a successful Advertising executive, hires an Italian-live-in housekeeper. All the clichés are hustled: a woman is working at a C-level, while her Italian (not really macho) housekeeper is cooking and cleaning the house. In another category, Lynette Scavo’s character from Desperate Housewives shows that a woman with children can conciliate a successful career in Marketing, provided that roles are properly shared with her househusband!

Bunker Roy has totally hustled the known and common rules by founding in 1972 the Barefoot College; a College made for poor people. Within this College, illiterate women including grandmothers are trained to become solar engineers. Why women? Bunker Roy explained himself that men are untrainable, and most of them leave the villages to go to cities for what they think is a better life. Thus, people taking care of the villages are actually women and often grandmothers.

In the celebrities’ side, I name Christina Hendricks. Her role in Modern Office for Funny or Die, the Mad Men actress points out that, although offices are more modern, things have not changed between today and the 60s regarding women position in professional life. So why would she change her 60s habits?

Another hustler: Charlotte Benjamin, a 7-year-old girl. Last January, the little girl wrote quite of a letter to the Lego Company pointing out the gender inequality among the Lego products made for boys and the other ones for girls: “All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks.” Her wish became true when last August, the set “Research Institute” with women scientists was released.

“Dear Lego Company:My name is Charlotte I am 7 years old and I love legos but I don’t like that there are more Lego boy people and barely any lego girls. Today I went to a store and saw legos in two sections the girls pink and the boys blue. All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks. I want you to make more lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun ok!?! Thank you. From Charlotte.”

For its 1st edition, the Kristal Elma Yaratıcılık Festivali was full of amazing campaigns and speakers with sustainable messages! Here is a selection of very inspiring ones!

1- Promote a fair balance in today’s world Mercedes Erra, the President Executive of Havas worldwide and BETC founder, pointed out that balance between men and women help organizations to progress. She highlighted major facts of 2007 UNICEF Gender Equality study: “women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, but earn 10% of the income and own 1% of the property”. To change such figures, people should go beyond the stereotypes; stereotypes that unfortunately everyone’s has. The big challenge to undertake is a cultural change embedded with the principle of sharing.

2- Small World Machines: a means to go beyond frontiers Jonathan Mildenhall, the Vice President of The Coca Cola Company, presented amazing campaigns. One of them was the initiative named “Small World Machines – Bringing India and Pakistan together”. Through this machine, Indian and Pakistanis people could interact, connect, play and share happiness with one another. Participants noticed that both sides had actually a lot in common. Such initiative shows how breaking down barriers and stereotypes could be actually easy – especially in today’s world networks! – and bring so much: new friends!

3- Raise awareness about child mortality in India As presented by Sonal Dabral, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of DDB Mudra, a great campaign has been made to raise awareness about child mortality due to water hygiene. The film aimed to show that with basic solutions, such as washing hands correctly, could save so many lives.

4- Engage people to create sustainable solutions François Petavy, CEO of eYeka, presented a great project launched by eYeka for Unilever. eYeka’s community members – a potential of 250.500 creative individuals – can compete in a contest by designing an original and revolutionary shower system for the next generation of showers, that combines an enjoyable experience with preservation of the environment; in other word a sustainable shower for the future.

5- Innovation as a key word Christophe Cauvy, JWT European Head of Digital & Innovation, taught us that innovation is linked to creativity and that “Innovation is important because it is at the heart of our clients corporate and marketing strategy”. Innovation is also a team work in the sense that it is through the interaction with others, that one’s get inspired and innovates. He pointed out that the physicist Geoffrey West recently discovered that a larger city is more innovative. In other words, West’s Power Law suggests that a resident of a city with 5 million people is 3 times more creative than the inhabitant of a town with 100.000! Istanbul counts about 17 million people… so do the math!

And what innovation has brought us recently? Well, it brought a new Nike store made up with 100% trash in Shanghai! Because we learn from our mistake, major corporations, which counted some flaws in the past, are actually now walking more and more on the path of being more sustainable. SMEs create sustainability solutions, as a rule of their core business; but the impact is more significant when big global corporations embrace them and engage their audience.